Two downtown buildings came down last week: the former Longhorn Steakhouse building and the building directly north of it.
The buildings shared a wall. The City of North Battleford took over the Longhorn building through tax enforcement several years ago.
Local businessman Terry Caldwell previously owned the property north of the Longhorn, but the city agreed to a land swap in which the city would take the downtown building, and Caldwell would receive a property at 1192-97th St.
The plan to tear the buildings down has been known to the News-Optimist since 2018 budget deliberations.
In June, Mayor Ryan Bater told the News-Optimist it’s unfortunate old buildings are coming down, but said the buildings “were beyond repair.”
“You either take the necessary step to reclaim that land and make it available for development, or you simply allow a dilapidated property to exist and we didn’t want to see that happen any longer.”
Note: this is a corrected version clarifying that Terry Caldwell did not own the Longhorn building.
